Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag says that his side “were stressed on the ball” during Sunday’s Premier League contest with Tottenham Hotspur.
Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag has said that his side “were stressed on the ball” during Sunday’s Premier League contest with Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils found themselves 1-0 behind in the early exchanges of the game in Manchester, with Brennan Johnson tapping home at the far post.
Bruno Fernandes then received his marching orders for a foul on James Maddison, before Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke found the back of the net in the second period to secure a 3-0 victory for the visitors.
It is a second successive 3-0 home defeat for Man United in the Premier League, and Ten Hag was once again left ruining mistakes during the damaging defeat to Ange Postecoglou‘s side.
“To concede a goal after two or three minutes like that, it did something to our belief. Totally unneccessary. To concede a goal like this, the [opposing] centre-half stepping in and passing the whole team over the right side and then the winger tapping in at the far post. Same mistake as in the midweek against Twente, it should be stopped in the first moment,” Ten Hag told BBC Sport.
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Ten Hag questions Fernandes red card
“From that moment on we were stressed on the ball. We could not find the triangles or the switches, we had some good moments, but from that moment we could not get a foothold. And we can do better than that. Even after such a mistake from us we should stay calm.
“We had chances and our moments to get back in the game, with Joshua Zirkzee and Alejandro Garnacho when we still had 11 players and then after the red card too we had moments.
“We had our chances before half-time and in the second half with 10 men we had chances as well. It definitely had an impact on the game. I don’t think it was a red card.
“First we have to deal with this and show resilience. This is not good enough. We have to accept this and get better. Focus on the next game and do things better than we did today.”
Fernandes slipped before bringing Maddison to the ground, and the Man United captain insisted after the match that he did not deserve to be sent off by referee Chris Kavanagh.
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What now for Man United?
The Red Devils have to pick themselves up ahead of a trip to Portugal, as they will tackle Porto in the Europa League on Thursday.
Ten Hag’s side will then visit Aston Villa in the Premier League next weekend, with the next two games potentially being decisive when it comes to the manager’s future.
The 20-time English champions will return to action after the international break at home to Brentford, before a busy end to next month sees them tackle Fenerbahce in the Europa League and Leicester City in the EFL Cup, in addition to a trip to West Ham United in the Premier League.
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